Basic Electronics

Whats an Electrical Circuit? Invisible Quantities (V, I, R) Safety Basic Components

Resistors, Batteries, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), ICs, Voltage Regulator

Ohms & Kirchhoffs Laws Simple Circuits Integrating to the Parallel Port (basics only) Textbook & Web References Teaching Strategies scattered throughout

Whats an Electrical Circuit?

Every circuit requires these three things:
Power Source Load Conductor

9V

Optionally, a circuit may include a control

device such as a switch

Three Main Invisible Quantities

Voltage, symbol - V, units - Volts
Provides the push

Current, symbol - I, units - Amperes (Amps)

Flow of Electrons Amount of Current is dependent on Voltage and Resistance

Resistance, symbol - R, units - Ohms ()

Limits the amount of current Represents the load of the circuit

Safe Levels
Voltage: 30 V
Voltages inside a computer do not exceed 12 V, except at the power supply and power switch, which could be at 120 V, depending on computer style. Be careful in these areas! Do not attempt to open monitors!

Current: 5 mA (0.005 Amperes)

Voltage Can Be Provided From

A battery

Current
is simply the flow of electrons Direction depends on convention
Electron flow is from (-) to (+)
(flow of electrons)
Electron Current Flow (-) to (+) Conventional Current Flow (+) to (-)

Conventional flow is from (+) to (-)

(hole flow)

Resistors Basic Specs

Can be rated by
Resistance (Ohms, ) Tolerance (% of nominal value) Power Rating (Watts)

Schematic Symbols

Resistors Types
Fixed

Variable (Potentiometer, Rheostat)

Resistors Colour Code

Reproduced by permission of Tony van Roon, 2002 http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon

Resistors Colour Code

Javascript Resistance Calculator available at http://www.beens.org/misc/resCalc/resistor.htm

Resistors Colour Code Example

1st band: orange = 3 2nd band: orange = 3 3rd band: red = 2 (i.e. 102) 4th band: gold = 5%

33 x 102 = 3300 = 3.3 k

Resistors 5 Band Colour Code

Resistors Typical Power Ratings

Ohms Law
Current (I) is proportional to Voltage (V) and inversely proportional to Resistance (R)

V I R

V I R

V R I

Electrical Power
Electrical Power (P) = Voltage x Current P=V I P = (I) (I R) = I R P = V (V/R) = V / R

Ohms Law and Power Formulas

Reproduced by permission of Tony van Roon, 2002 http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon

Kirchhoffs Voltage Law

Used in series circuits The sum of the voltage drops equals the applied voltage, or The sum of the voltage drops around a closed loop equals zero
6V 10 V 4V

Kirchhoffs Current Law

The current entering a junction must equal the current leaving the junction Use in parallel circuits.

4A

1A

3A

Series Circuits
One current path, therefore the current is the same everywhere

Total resistance is the sum of the individual resistances

R 1 2 . T R R . .

Parallel Circuits
More than one current path

Total current is the sum of the individual

currents

I 1 2. T I I ..

Parallel Circuits (2)

RT 1 1 1 1 ... R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 (if 2 only ) R1 R 2 R (if the same value ) n

Light Emitting Diodes

A type of diode designed to

emit light Can be visible or IR 2 V voltage drop Typically draws 20 mA (0.020 A)

Schematic Symbol

A Simple LED Circuit

Analyzing a LED Circuit with KVL and Ohms Law

V R L D T V V E
VR VT VLED 9 2 7V
9V VLED = 2V

IE R 2 m LD I 0 A

VR R IR 7V 0.020 A 350